A Norse polytheist walking with Sigyn

Part Six (Breaking the Rules)

Breaking the Rules

Depending on the rule, and the particular dynamic in question, there may not be as much of a punishment per se for breaking the rule. Most people associate the word ‘punishment’ with something that they don’t want to do, or that may be harmful in some way. Some Deities may have punishments that fall in line with these ideas, but a devotee may find out that there will be some sort of action that will make up for breaking the rule.

This may be doing some other devotional activity for the Deity, such as making a point of writing a devotional poem in order to make up breaking whatever rule (particularly if the devotee already does that action and doesn’t run into as much trouble with writing things). Rules that deal with avoiding things may have consequences built in that end up being a punishment in and of itself, and I would like to caution against thinking that bad luck is a punishment for breaking a rule. An Oathbound devotee, or a devotee in a devotional power dynamic, can follow all the rules and still have shitty events happen to them.

For example, if someone breaks the rule to not eat X, and they wind up with a seriously unhappy gastrointestinal system, they can attribute that as the consequence / punishment once they rule out that there was something wrong with the food itself. They will probably also want to check with their Deity, but the Deity may claim that as a consequence just to make a point. It can be helpful for future reference and in determining if anything else needs to be done to make up for breaking the rule, though.

If a Deity went through the effort of including a rule, there will probably be something that happens or needs to be done once the rule is broken. This isn’t a guarantee, and for certain rules that are deemed ‘minor’, there may be no official thing to do for breaking them. Sometimes, the devotee may just need to do damage control, accept the consequences, and resolve to try not to break that rule in the future. As with human-human scenes, there may be funishments in devotional power dynamics as well.